Nato calls urgent meeting after Turkey shoots down Russian war plane

NATO allies will hold an “extraordinary” meeting Tuesday at Ankara’s request to discuss Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border, an alliance official said. Turkish F16s downed the Russian jet which violated the country’s airspace, according to presidential official. Turkish military said the jet’s pilot was warned ten times over five minutes before being shot down. Moscow confirmed one of its SU-24 warplanes had been downed, but said it could prove the jet had not left Syrian air space.

A very serious incident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman.

It is the first time a NATO member’s armed forces have shot down a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s. TV footage showed a plane going down in flames in a woodland area, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it. The warplane went down in an area known by Turks as “Turkmen Mountain” in northern Syria near the Turkish border. Separate footage from the country’s Anadolu Agency showed two pilots ejecting from the jet before it crashed. One of the pilots is in the hands of Turkmen forces in northern Syria, CCN Turk said. Turkey’s Dogan news agency said two Russian military helicopters are searching for the pilots.

The aim of this extraordinary NAC is for Turkey to inform Allies about the downing of a Russian airplane.

A NATO official

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